Weight loss is easy, but wait a second...easy? Hmm...

In theory, weight loss is pretty simple and easy to do. You simply just eat a bit less calories than you body 'needs' in a day to maintain weight. You don't need to cut drastically, just a little bit and adding in exercise makes it easier as it burns even more calories (and usually suppresses hunger for awhile). And, if you learn to eat more filling foods that give a lot nutritional punch for a little calories, then it gets even easier. Like what will keep you fuller longer - a 400 calorie brownie or a meal of of 4 ozs piece of chicken, 1-2 cups of veggies (your pick even) over a cup of flax/protein (and tasty) pasta in a very light sauce?

It really is simple and easy to do. Then why is weight loss so difficult for people to keep at it? It's so easy, right? Well, it's mostly easy, but...

Yesterday I was at the mall to walk around and explore what was there. I was beginning to get hungry. First, I bought a water, that helped. Then, in my purse I always keep a nutrition bar. I ate that (130 calories and full of protein and fiber - so it SHOULD hold me for awhile). I made it home to where I made three eggs and mung beans (bean sprouts common in Chinese dishes) for about 460 calorie lunch from the eggs and nutrition bar. If I would have stopped and grabbed a slice of pizza (plain cheese is 459 calories) or a butterless and saltless pretzel (310 calories), I would have gotten less nutritionally and would have still been hungry. One slice of thin crust pizza for lunch? My 3 year old could (and did) eat that slice.

And see, that's where it gets hard and that's where most Americans gain weight. I gather, most people make good choices much of the time. They eat breakfast, they pack their own lunch, they make their own food at home. But, every time they go out to eat, they eat more calories out than they would at home. When someone brings cake or cookies to the office, when it's a birthday, or a holiday, we overeat. Therefore, we tend to gain 5-10 lbs a year, from those simple little extras we just couldn't pass up.

That is where weight loss is difficult. It's not difficult to choose a good breakfast or a good lunch. It's consistently choosing every meal to count, every meal to be a little less than your caloric needs. It's learning to pass up, every time, the snack table. It's learning to not stop at a food court while shopping and so on.

Yes, OK, to lose weight you can have days you have more - life would be horrible if you couldn't have a piece of cake on your birthday. Or enjoy a few goodies over the holidays, but those temptations aren't around just then, they're always around. And saying no almost every time can be very difficult at times. Sometimes, no, it's easy. Sometimes you are feeling good in where you are with your weight loss that you aren't even tempted, but those days aren't every day. On a day with less sleep... you're more tempted. On a day with higher stress... you're more tempted. And on a day you have already allowed yourself to get too hungry, you get tempted to eat more than you need and to eat more calorie rich foods than you need. And, even how your scale is behaving can make you weaker or stronger to passing up temptations. if the scale is cooperating and going down like it should with all the great choices, it's easier to pass up temptations. On days that the scale seems stuck or goes up, it's easier to get in the mindset of "Who cares. I just want to eat!"

Yesterday it was very hard for me to make good choices. I did, but I also could have easily fallen prey to the tantilizing smells of the food court and then would have been angry with myself later for making such a bad choice.

Because I was good, my scale was a bit more agreeable. Still up from where I was, but it is at least going back down and I got a good workout in too.

Stats for 3/4/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6   Now: 240.2
Exercise totals in 2011: 56 hours
Walking totals in 2011: 183/1000 miles

About my fitness videos

So, yesterday I talked about what exercise videos I have. They had been boxed up for over a decade, moved from Philadephia to Ontario, Canada, to Iowa, to northern Virginia to finally be opened up in Maryland. I thought about selling them many times because even if I did start a road back to fitness, I wasn't sure I wanted to do exercise videos. In many ways I felt shame for coming so far only to give up. I didn't know how I would feel having to start completely over with the easiest things I had. Well, I guess in time I healed and rekindled my interest in the fitness videos I used to love using. Now I had fond memories of how powerful I felt while doing the video. I was ready to start again!

But I needed to take stock. What exactly did I have? Discovered I had a couple duplicates when I bought a few a few years ago, thinking of starting up again. And sadly, there are several "never opened" videos. Over Christmas we added a few things for the Wii for fitness too. They are all detailed below:

Aaron Lankford's - Power Kick
Buns of Steel - Step 2000
Cathe Friedrich - How to Get in Shape for Your Wedding
Cathe Friedrich - Step Jam (new in package)
Claudia Schiffer - Perfectly Fit Abs (new in package)
Claudia Schiffer - Perfectly Fit Arms (new in package)
Claudia Schiffer - Perfectly Fit Buns (new in package)
David-Dorian Ross - Tai Chi Beginning Practice (DVD)
Donna Richardson - Donnamite Aerobic Workout
Donna Richardson - 4 Day Rotation Workout
Elle McPherson - Your Personal Best Workout
Firm Parts - Tough Aerobic Mix (new in package)
Gay Gasper - 2 Tape Set - The Next Step Intermediate/Advanced
Gay Gasper - 2 Tape Set - Sensational Step/Awesome Abs
Gilad - Fat Burning Workout
Gilad - New Beginner's Workout
Gin Miller - New Body Workout
Gin Miller - One on One Circuit Training
Jane Fonda - Low Impact Aerobics and Strength
Joanie Gregaine's Ultimate Step Workout
Karen Voigt - Energy Sprint
Karen Voigt - Great Weighted Workout
Karen Voigt - Pure and Simple Stretch
Karen Voigt - Strong and Smooth Moves
Kari Anderson - Step Aerobic and Abdominal Workout
Kathy Smith - Fat Burning Workout
Kathy Smith - Great Buns and Thighs Step Workout
Kathy Smith - Instant Workout
Kathy Smith - Latin Rhythm Workout
Kathy Smith - Power Step Workout
Kathy Smith - Secrets to a Great Body
Kathy Smith - Secrets to a Great Body Vol. 2 Lower Body
Kathy Smith - Step Workout
Kathy Smith - Timesaver Cardio Fat Burner
Kathy Smith - Timesaver Lift Weights to Lose Weight
Kathy Smith - Total Body Workout
Kathy Smith - Weight Loss Workout (new in package)
Leslie Sansone - Walk Aerobics, 2 Mile Walk
Leslie Sansone - Walk off Weight at Home Vol. 3 - 4 miles
Linda Evans - A New You Aerobics Workout
NAC System - Interval Challenge
Patricia Walden - P.M. Yoga for Beginners
Paula Abdul - Get Up and Dance
Reebok - Aerostep
Reebok - Power Blast (new in package)
Reebok Step - The Video (new in package)
Reebok Step - The Video (oops! I have two!)
Richard Simmons - Blast Off (new in package)
Richard Simmons - Groovin in the House (new in package)
Richard Simmons - Sweat and Shout
Richard Simmons - Sweatin to the Oldies (DVD - new in package)
Richard Simmons - Sweatin to the Oldies 2 (DVD- new in package)
Richard Simmons - Sweatin to the Oldies 3 (DVD- new in package)
Richard Simmons - Sweatin to the Oldies 3 (VHS - new in package)
Richard Simmons - Sweatin to the Oldies 4 (DVD- new in package)
Richard Simmons - Tone and Sweat
Starting Simple Series - Easy Aerobics
Susan Powter - Burn Fat and Get Fit
Tae Bo -Basic
Tae Bo - Instructional
Tamilee - Building Tighter Assets
Wii - Michael Jackson - the Experience
Wii - Olympics Winter Games
Wii - Shaun White Snowboarding - Road Trip
Wii - Ski
Wii - Sports Resort
Wii - Walk it Out
Wii - Wii Fit Plus
:08 Min - Abs (new in package)
:08 Min - Arms (new in package)
:08 Min - Buns (new in package)
:08 Min - Legs (new in package)

That's over 70 exercise videos or games (mostly videos on VHS). While some of them I know I'll probably never use (most of the Wii stuff is for my son and my husband - I'm not into those little games). Some are really for those at intermediate (much of Karen Voigt's stuff and Cathe Friedrich's). Some I think I bought with a purpose, but can't recall what - :08 Min stuff. And others I know I used a lot - Reebok Step, Kathy Smith, Donna Richardson and Richard Simmons.

Last time I started I began with Richard Simmons. I needed to see normal people doing normal routines. While I like they are short and dancy, I don't like the choreography much. Or maybe better said, the cuing for the choreography. I did the first Sweatin to the Oldies yesterday and it was fun to do it again after leaving it for over a decade. I did this video probably more than any other as it was my first and only for quite awhile in 1998. I chose it because I remembered it being short and since I was tacking it on after doing 60 minutes of Walk It Out and my push-ups and sit-ups, I didn't want to go too long with a longer video. The only thing I forgot about it was that there was lots of twisting movements which is fine on wood floors, but I'm on a carpet. Perhaps I'll need to get a mat or something because I'm afraid of straining my knees/ankles with those movements as the carpet in the basement is quite squishy.

Only other videos I can remember much about is Reebok Step -I just remember liking it. Donna Richardson's Donnamite, which the only thing I can remember about it is one of the short dancers either being annoying or fun to watch - can't recall and I know I like Karen Voigt as she's so professional and strong, but her stuff tends to hurt my knees with lots of lunges. Kathy Smith is , as a fitness instructor I find a bit annoying, if I recall right, but her stuff was at a perfect level for after Richard Simmons and for someone at an intermediate level. I think she has beginner, intermediate and advanced people doing all the moves and I liked that, but I can't pick out which videos I've done or liked and as you can see, I have a lot of Kathy Smith.

I have a couple kickboxing videos and I never could get into that, but I'll keep them for now for something different. And an odd one I liked was Gilad. I don't know why I liked it, but I remember it being a good workout for me. I kind of recall 'some' of these videos, but it's really fuzzy. It will be fun starting up again and seeing what I like and don't like. I'm going to try REALLY HARD not to get anything new (except maybe Dance 2 for Wii) as I have so many things to go to, but that will be hard as I'm excited to try Zumba and all the other new things out there I keep hearing about! But first, to use what I have. It will make my husband happy for me not to spend money on something I obviously don't need! And, if they gave me good workouts in the past, they will again now!

Stats for 3/3/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6   Now: 240.8*
Exercise hours in 2011: 54.5 hours
Walking totals in 2011: 179/1000 miles
Push-ups (girly): Beginning: 15 (with breaks between each 5) Now: 20 (breaks after 10)
Crunches: Beginning: 25  Now: 65

* I know - fourth day of gain in a row. VERY frustrating. But, I know I'm eating right, I'm exercising right. It has to be water and my ankles were very puffy last night. This too shall pass, but yes, it's annoying and frustrating!

Found my old fitness forum - and fitness videos

As I've mentioned a thousand times already, I lost weight in 1998 or so. I started to try again in 2000, but didn't get very far. Both times I used fitness videos to get in shape. Initially, both times I started with Richard Simmons' "Sweatin' to the Oldies". It's short, it's easy and at the end it has the dancers/performers dance across the stage saying how much they have lost. It is so inspiring, really. And, I don't find Richard Simmons annoying. He's perky, fun, and genuine. I also like that the dancers on the videos are real people struggling with weight, not trained athletes in super fit condition doing the routine to perfection. It always kills me in videos when they show a muscular, fit body doing the 'beginner' version of the exercise. Couldn't they find a true beginner showing it and leave the super fit person for the advanced version of the workout? Like in real life?

So, it started with Sweatin' to the Oldies, then I got the second one, and the third and then started to get bored, but didn't know what to get as there were and still are so many options. Then I found this exercise group online that did home fitness videos. This group was fantastic for me. Most of them were lifelong fitness buffs or, had been doing videos for so long that they were super fit - strictly from home videos. From them I got a lot of suggestions on what to try next and they motivated me to try harder and to do more. The also had a video exchange program. People actually traded with my measly Richard Simmons videos for harder things and I learned how I loved step aerobics, found some strength and toning workouts that were fun and so on. As I got stronger in the 8 months I was exercising, I was even beginning to dabble in some more advanced workouts and got to the point I could run for 3 miles, just from training off these videos I did in the comfort of my own home. It was great. And it was on that site that I came up with the Fitness Fledgling name for myself.

It was great until I found fitting in exercise very difficult. My job hours were long, Sven was in a super tough PhD program. I tried exercising at 9 pm or 10 pm (first time to myself all day long), but I was getting so tired come winter. I tried waking up at 5 am and man that was tough and I would wake up the 2 year old who then wanted to join me... within a couple months, I stopped everything.

A year or so later I tried to pick it up again. I found the fitness group, someone gave me a whole bunch of VHS tapes (she had switched over to DVDs) and now I had more fun stuff and good stuff too. And again, after a couple months, I gave up. We moved four times - I boxed them up and put them away - moving them in the same, unopened boxes each of those times.

When we moved to this house, I had every intention of getting back into fitness. I opened the boxes and put them out to use in the basement. Then those daily headaches and nothing happening. I tried to find the fitness group I had belonged to and couldn't find it. Did it still exist a decade later? Would it have the same format even?

Then, in January, as the headaches disappeared, I started out simply. I started using the Walk it Out game with the Wii Fit. First with the balance board, then walking in place on the floor and now with the Reebok step, upping the difficulty as I get more fit. Doing the same game for 2 months is getting boring though, but I don't like to quit, so I keep plugging away. In the meantime, I keep looking over at my fitness videos. I'm itching to get to them. I'm itching to feel powerful and strong again. Which led me to looking up that fitness forum again.

And yesterday, I found them. Same name, I had just forgotten, http://www.videofitness.com/. They have a lot of the same founding members (though, of course, they've grown), they still review exercise workouts (thousands of them) and they still swap/exchange dvds too. I went to sign up, all excited to be back a decade later and I'm just waiting for the moderator approval to rejoin.

But there's a feeling of shame/sadness too. These gals, a core group of them, never gave up, never stopped. Yet I quit for over a decade. A decade? That's hard to even wrap my head around that amount of time. How does someone let go for a decade, seriously? But, I guess the imprtant thing to remember is that I'm back - back for good! At least back to fitness for good. Who knows if I'll stick with videos or if I'll want to start taking classes at the gym, but I have to keep promising myself that fitness is for life.

But now I'm torn: Do I continue with the Walk it Out game until I'm finished - I hate to leave things undone and it is still working with the step with getting fitness level up there. Or do I quit because I'm finding it boring and dive into the fitness videos? Or I can try to find a way to fit them both in I suppose. Hmmm...

I'll talk more about the videos I have tomorrow. Some are great, some are meh and some are just plain bad. All but 5 are still on VHS and the player I have downstairs is DVD. So, I have to switch them over too. That way I can do part of one dvd, another part of another and mix up routines too. Hmmm... or maybe I should just spend the small $ and get another VHS player for the basement? Will have to talk that one over with my husband.

Oh, and the scale hates me. I thought I was out of 240s forever. Seems not. It's trying to mess with my brain - despite eating perfectly and exercising nearly every day! Grrr!!!

Beginning Weight: 255.6  Now: 240.0

Ah, good night's sleep, but the scale moved in the wrong direction

Not going to worry about the scale as I know it's just some weird blip. It's March 1st and I lost 8 pounds for the month of February. How could any bemoan that? That's twice as fast as my goal, so little higher blips on the scale here and there are not going to bother me. My body isn't a perfect machine. Either my sodium is up or something.

Last night's workout was going to be something different because I wanted to protect my shins from shin splints that are starting to develop. However, the DVD player doesn't have the cables to connect it to the TV. The ones we have are in use. My husband suggested undoing the TV upstairs, but I didn't want to bother with having to undo it just to have to redo it in an hour. Stuff like that is not that simple to do. We'll just need to get some new cables soon. So, instead of reviving my Richard Simmons DVDs (which I bought and have never used to replace my Richard Simmons video cassettes), I did the Walk It Out game for Wii again. Using the reebok step more and more. My average heart rate was 131. Max was 143. Really, except for the first 15 minutes where it was building up, for 45 minutes it was hovering around 140 which is perfect.

I didn't get to doing the 'fun' stuff or even the productive stuff yesterday. I went to the grocery store and pharmacy, took a nap, listened to my mother in law, did the dishes and made dinner and then later hung out with my teenager, got the 5 year old and the rest of the evening was spent with him until he was ready to go to bed. Then I exercised.

What else? My little guy who usually hates school was excited to get back to school yesterday, and seems so today too. Boy, that would be a nice trend! He's growing mentally/socially by leaps and bounds, so maybe he's feeling more comfortable at school too.

Oh, and spring is really here - the tulips are popping up, my neightbor's bushes are blooming and yesterday on the way to the grocery store I saw some blooming amaryllis too! March 1st! It's been a long, cold winter, so I'm hoping it's pretty much the end of that. March in the midatlantic is usually pretty nice. Here's hoping it is this time too.

Stats for 3/1/11:

Beginning Weight: 255.6   Now 239.6
2011 Exercise totals: 53 hours
2011 Walking totals: 176/1000 miles

Lack of sleep makes me grumpy and makes the scale go up

I didn't get to exercising until 9:30 pm and did that until 10:45 pm. Of course, because of it I couldn't go to sleep right away and for the second night in a row, I slept like doo-doo. Much worse last night than the night before. Maybe now my thyroid has gone too far the other way? or was it just one of those things? Who knows. But now I feel grumpy and it's rainy outside and the scale was up a bit this morning (I've noticed bad sleep usually equals bad scale reading in the morning). I know I did nothing 'wrong' as I ate well yesterday and did fit in my usual exercise routine.

Well, routine. I guess the Walk It Out game is routine, but definitely adding push-ups and situps every other day isn't exactly a routine yet as I have now done them exactly twice. This time I decided to do the push-ups and sit-ups before exercising and I did some some improvement. Well, more, I pushed myself harder as I wasn't as exhausted I think. So, 20 girly push-ups, 4 sets of 5 with a few seconds pause between each set. Then I did 25 crunches in sets of 5 straight on, and then another 25 for the obliques. My arms, shoulders and sides are hurting from the push-ups, but nothing is hurting me so far from the sit-ups even though I really can't do any more when I'm doing them!

Today is Monday and my 5 year old is all recuperated from his stomach bug. We first have to hit the dentist to have that check-up on his dental surgery. We had to reschedule due to the little guy's stomach bug. Then, it's off to school with him! Then I need to go to the pharmacy to get my thyroid meds. I haven't had a day alone in two weeks, so something FUN would be nice. Not sure going to Home Depot is fun, but I do need to pick something up there. Maybe hanging curtains? Not exactly fun, but I really need to get to that. We've lived in this house for 15 months and while all the windows have blinds, it would be nice to have curtains too and then, finally some artwork!

Ok, that's about it. Oh, I did do my measurements this morning, but hardly a change, so I'll maybe start doing that once a month. The only measurement that got a little smaller was my thighs, otherwise the same, despite dropping weight these past two weeks.

Stats for 2/27/11:

Beginning weight 255.6   Now 239.2
2011 exercise totals: 52 hours
2011 walking totals: 173/1000
Push-ups: starting: 15  Now: 20
Stomach crunches: starting: 25  Now: 50

Date night!

My husband and I went out for a date - the first time in months and months and the first time we went out somewhere alone for over a year. Another time we went out and went to a group thing. It was a nice time. We went to Historic Ellicott City. First we walked down the Main Street and then back up. It's built on a hill (and into bedrock) and is quite charming - full of shops (sad to see a Subway is moving into the neighborhood - sorry cousin Nick who works in advertising in the headquarters!). Normally, I would have huffed and puffed coming back up the hill. Not this time! I am getting fitter. Then we listened to a live band in a local pub and people watched. Party animals we are not, but it was a cheap date $8 total as my husband had one beer and I had a diet Coke!

Yesterday I walked 4 miles. The first mile I did at home on the treadmill. That mile was hard. Again, 3.1 mph is the fastest I could go - making it exactly an 18 minute mile. Later, I decided to take a walk. We all went as a family, but I went ahead at my speed while my husband, my teenager and the 5 year old walked behind. I did the entire loop of the 1.5 miles, then I walked back to them the long way (off the lake) for a total of 2.5 miles walking fast. The last mile was starts and stops with the 5 year old. I would be walking very fast when he was running, at a standstill when he was lollygagging. When I was walking fast (2.5 miles) I was walking 3.9 miles per hour, or about 15 minute miles - including hilly areas, way easier than the treadmill. So, when I am walking on the treadmill and it seems so slow, I know I'm working as hard as I would outside at nearly 4 mph.

I feel good today, quite sore now from the push-ups, but that's good. I'll do some more today! Ack... I hate them!

Weight beginning: 256.6   Now: 238.8
Exercise totals in 2011: 51 hours
Walking totals in 2011: 170/1000

You gotta start somewhere, but WOW

So, I said I would start with push-ups and sit-ups yesterday for some strength training. Now, I was expecting I would majorly suck at anything like that, but when you do one sit-up and realize, "wow, this is hard!", you know it's not going to be good. I did 5, then relaxed a couple seconds, five more, relax, five more, relax. Up to 25. That was it. I was done. Pathetic. Yes, it has been over a decade since I've done these (wow to that even - a decade of doing them???), and I've had a baby since then, but still completely pathetic.

Then I tried push-ups. I've always been stronger in my arms/shoulders than in my abdomen, so I thought it would go better, maybe. Until I build strength, it has to be girly push-ups, but I did 5 no problem, then a stretched a second, 5 more, relax, 5 more and done. Enough. Again, just 15 and I was feeling it too much and had enough. Where are the days I could do 50 of those with no  exercise at all, just able to do it whenever? Well, those days are gone too.

I know, it's a start and you have to start somewhere, but ugh... awful. I know part of the reason I was also dead early was that I had just exercised for 90 minutes previous to that. I tried out the treadmill last night. I had gotten batteries for the treadmill's distance counter and speed indicator, etc, so I wanted to give it a whirl. Plus, I have a footpod for the Garmin Forerunner and I wanted to get that calibrated for my walking pace. It started that I was just going to walk a half mile for the watch, but I didn't do it right. Then I walked another .5 miles, again, it didn't work! Finally, I get it (my manual doesn't have directions for this and the online manual I found was for the old style footpod) with walking another half mile. So, 1.5 miles on the treadmill just to get the foot pod to work with my watch. My heart was pounding at an average of 140 beats per minute too and I was walking 3.1 miles per hour. That's it! After exercising for 7 weeks, that's still all the faster I could go! Argh!!! (though I really do think it's harder to walk on the treadmill than it is to walk outside).

Well, at that point, I had walked/worked out for 27 minutes. Too short. So, I decided to do 33 minutes on the Walk It Out game. Well, I felt good and thought at about 25 minutes in, "heck, I can do this an hour". And onwards I went. However, at 25 minutes left to go, I was feeling TIRED. It was 10:30 at night and my heart was still really pounding, but I stuck it out to make it 90 minutes total of walking - 4.5 miles. Then I did the situps and pushups at about 11 pm. So, perhaps the time of day and already being exhausted contributed to the pathetic performance, but I doubt it. I don't use my shoulders and abs while walking - at least not much!

Other than that, I had an adventure at the grocery store yesterday. I didn't realize I was hungry when going and my goodness was it hard to walk past the bakery! They had baked goods all over the place and I just wanted to eat them! Fortunately, I had a protein bar in my purse and I ate that instead and made it out unscathed. And I think it was only because simple carbs are the ONE THING I really need to avoid that kept me from caving. It's not only about their empty calories, but what it can do to my blood sugars that kept me in check.

Lastly, my husband has dropped 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks too. Five of it was his holiday weight gain (I lost those 4 pounds from mid to late December) and an additional 5 pounds. He's gotten there from calorie restricting mainly. It helps that I make really good, healthy food. He exercises just wii fit games about one to two times a week. Man, if it were only that easy for me to lose that quickly. I'm not jealous or even envious. I have known it's been taht way forever. First, he's male. Second, he just has a better metabolism. Very soon he'll be back in his 32 inch waist pants. Maybe I'll be able to fit in his 34s sometime this year? Just to say I can? We'll see!

Saw another drop on the scale, so all is good!

Stats 2/26/11:

Beginning weight - 255.6  Now - 239.0
Exercise hours:minutes in 2011: 49:45
Walking totals in 2011: 166/1000 miles
Push-up count I can do in one sitting: 15
Sit-up count I can do in one sitting: 25